Works: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.16;
Piano Concerto No.3 in C major, Op.26;
Piano Sonata No.2 in D minor, Op.14
Artists: Freddy Kempf, piano;
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton
Separately, both Freddy Kempf and the team of Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrew Litton have recorded music by Prokofiev for BIS, resulting in highly acclaimed releases. Freddy Kempf's 2003 Prokofiev solo recital was described as 'a superb disc' in Gramophone, whose critic went on to write: 'Kempf is joyfully exuberant, flashing through every savage challenge with the assurance and instinct of a born virtuoso.' Four years later, the Bergen orchestra and Litton recorded the twenty movements from the composer's three Romeo and Juliet suites, performed in the order the music appears in the ballet score. The outcome of this original approach was widely praised, for instance by the reviewer on the German website Klassik Heute: "a European top orchestra and an American conductor with great insights into the Russian repertoire meet up, and the result is sparkling, colourful, ardent and with great presence." Kempf, Litton and the Bergen PO now join forces in an all-Prokofiev programme that includes the most popular of his five piano concertos, namely the Third, a spontaneous work, vigorous and melodic in turns and full of striking material presented in a typical Prokofiev manner. This is coupled with the Second Piano Concerto, which Prokofiev himself premièred in 1913, shocking the audience with its modernistic sounds and jagged rhythms. The original score was lost during the Russian Revolution and Prokofiev reconstructed the work in Paris in 1923. According to the composer himself, the new version was so completely rewritten that it almost constituted a new work. Between the two concertos Freddy Kempf performs the Second Piano Sonata, a key work in Prokofiev's development and full of striking and individual ideas.
Works: Symphonies Nos. 1-8, Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.56, Korsfarerne (The Crusaders), choral cantata Op.50
Artists: Stockholm Sinfonietta / Neeme Järvi,
with Roland Pöntinen, piano (Symphony No.5), Anton Kontra, violin; Malmö Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi
During the mid-19th century, the Danish composer Niels. W. Gade was one of Europe's most well-known composers, conducting his own works all over the continent. Starting out as a protégé of Mendelssohn's, he later became his successor as music director of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and made the acquaintance of Robert and Clara Schumann, and of Liszt and Wagner. Initially known as a composer of symphonies, Gade mastered the German musical idiom to perfection, while adding a Nordic accent to it, particularly noticeable in his best works. His eight symphonies were composed between 1841 and 1871, and although Gade remained active as a composer until his death in 1890, he wrote no more symphonies. When questioned, he is said to have stated that 'there is but one Ninth Symphony!' Among Gade's works in other genres is the violin concerto (also included here), composed for the famous virtuoso Joseph Joachim. But it was the choral cantata genre which became his specialty. Such works generally utilized Danish texts, but were in many cases published in German translations and received numerous performances abroad. Within a year of its première, The Crusaders, for instance, was performed in Braunschweig, Vienna, Königsberg, Elberfeld, Breslau, Leipzig and Aachen. It would later reach even further afield - including New York and Buenos Aires - and Gade himself conducted performances in Amsterdam, Cologne and Birmingham. The recordings included in this box set were warmly received upon their original releases between 1986 and 1994, the reviewer in American Record Guide calling Neeme Järvi's symphony cycle 'a set which is not likely to be surpassed in the foreseeable future' and Neue Zeitschrift für Musik giving it 'an unqualified recommendation'
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.11, ‘The Year 1905’, Op.103 (1957)
Works: Symphony No.11, ‘The Year 1905’, Op.103 (1957)
Artists: Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra /
Mark Wigglesworth
Mark Wigglesworth began his cycle of Shostakovich’s symphonies with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, continuing since 2005 on the other side of the English Channel with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Previous volumes have all been warmly received by reviewers, who among the 10 symphonies released so far have discovered “a performance of the Fourth that makes a terrific impact” Daily Telegraph and a Tenth “to rival the very best” Gramophone.
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Works: Neun Deutsche Arien, HWV202–10; Trio Sonata in F major, HWV392; Gloria
Artists: Emma Kirkby, soprano; London Baroque
Among Handel's vocal works - from the early, operatic solo cantatas to the full-blown operas and the oratorios of his London years - the Nine German Arias hold a special place. Possibly composed around the time that the composer made a final journey to Germany to take leave of his ailing mother, they were Handel's last settings of texts in his native language. It seems likely that these circumstances contributed to the intimate character of these highly personal works, in combination with the texts themselves. Barthold Heinrich Brockes' poems point ahead towards the Enlightenment, establishing as their setting a harmonically organised world, in which benevolent Nature is the prime example of God's bounty. Emma Kirkby has chosen to combine these arias with the much earlier Gloria, discovered in 2001 and given its première recording - by Emma Kirkby herself - in the same year. As a result of the smaller forces (two violins, cello and chamber organ) employed on this re-recording of the exuberant work, the performance has a more intimate atmosphere, giving an interesting perspective on a piece which although written 300 years ago, is still a new addition to the repertoire. Emma Kirkby and London Baroque share a musical relationship of long standing, and appear together on two previous Handel recordings on BIS. The recent 'Handel in Italy', a programme of early, secular solo cantatas, was highly praised by the reviewers, for instance in the German magazine Fono Forum: 'Emma Kirkby presents these pieces with a deep insight into human thought and feeling. her interaction with London Baroque is an impressive demonstration of how a common musical understanding has matured and strengthened throughout a collaboration of many years.' An earlier disc of 'Sacred Cantatas' also received a number of distinctions, including a 'BBC Music Choice' in BBC Music Magazine, whose reviewer had 'seldom been as moved by a recording, both music and performance.'
Works: Infelice sventurata; Costretta a piangere; Signor, voi sapete; Solo e pensoso; Dice benissimo; Da che penso a maritarmi; Se tu mi sprezzi, ingrata; Tornate pur mia bella; Begli occhi vezzosi; Ah, tu non senti – Qual de opera pasticcio
Haydn composed more than twenty operas, mainly for the sumptuous theatre at Eszterháza, the palace of his long-time employers, the princes of Esterházy. This disc focuses on an even more closely guarded secret: the so-called 'insertion arias' that Haydn wrote for inclusion in operas by other composers. The rarely, if at all, recorded music includes Haydn's three contributions to La Circe, an opera pasticcio which combined music by several composers, and six of the surviving insertion arias. Among these is Infelice sventurata, written for an opera by Cimarosa, and one of Haydn's finest arias, here movingly performed by Miah Persson. The Swedish soprano shares the greater part of the programme with the Swiss tenor Bernard Richter. The latter in Ah, tu non senti, amico takes on what, according to the initiated liner notes of conductor and Haydn specialist Manfred Huss, 'may be the highest drama in eighteenth-century music - ghostly and spine-chilling in a Hitchcockian manner.' In contrast, Huss describes the concluding tercet from La Circe as 'a tremendously witty and energetic and also dramatic scene that sounds like Mozart - or perhaps even like Rossini'. This varied programme thus becomes an illustration of Mozart's verdict on Haydn as an opera composer: 'Nobody can do all of this - flirt and unsettle, provoke laughter and deep emotions - as well as Haydn!' It is presented by Manfred Huss and his period band Haydn Sinfonietta Wien as part of a Haydn bicentenary celebration, which includes four previous, highly acclaimed releases. The opera fragment Acide (BIS-SACD-1812) was called 'a wonderful tribute to Joseph Haydn'.ClassicsToday.com described the marionette opera Philemon und Baucis (BIS-SACD-1813) as 'exceptionally moving stuff' and the playing of Haydn Sinfonietta Wien on the two collections of overtures (BIS-CD-1818) and chamber works (BIS-CD-1796/98) has been unanimously praised.
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